GWU freshman wrestler headed to nationals

Sunday

Mar 10, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 10, 2013 at 11:12 PM

Special to The Star

LEXINGTON, Va. — Gardner-Webb freshman Hunter Gamble swept through the field at 174 pounds to take first place at the Southern Conference championships on Saturday and earn an automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA National Championships.

Redshirt seniors Ryan Medved and Alex Medved took second in their respective weight classes at the conference championships hosted by VMI.

Gamble (3-0), who was the No. 6 seed at 174 pounds, had a strong showing in his first conference championship event, as the freshman upended No. 3 Jake Residori of SIUE 1-0 in the first round and went on to defeat No. 7 John Dommert of VMI 3-2 in the semifinals to claim a spot in the finals bout.

Gamble went on to defeat No. 1 John Lampe of Chattanooga 2-1 by way of a tiebreaker on riding time.

He is the first NCAA national qualifier for the Runnin ’ Bulldogs since 2011.

The Runnin ’ Bulldogs finished fourth in the team standings, while 2012 Southern Conference champions Chattanooga won the team championship again.

GWU women’s tennis falls in conference opener — The Gardner-Webb women’s tennis team got singles wins from veterans Erica White and Yasmin Doost, but Coastal Carolina powered its way to a win in the opening doubles point and four singles victories as the Runnin ’ Bulldogs dropped a 5-2 match on Saturday to the host Chanticleers.